Environment | WPN World People News

BandarinPrehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$22 million grant to strengthen the management of Indonesia’s tropical forests – the third largest in the world – in order to help reduce poverty amongst forest-dependent communities and reduce environmental degradation.

Greenpeace welcomes President Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima just after the G7 meeting - the first ever visit by a sitting U.S. president - but condemns his double-standards as his administration works to expand the U.S.’ own nuclear capabilities.
“We welcome President Obama’s attempt to understand the miseries of nuclear warfare, but this visit rings hollow without far bolder efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. If the U.S. wants to help build a peaceful world, it is not enough to only visit the ruins of the past,” said Hisayo Takada, Deputy Program Director at Greenpeace Japan.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts completed a mission to review national nuclear security practices on May 27 in Albania.

World leaders in Japan for the G7 Summit must use the opportunity to build on last year’s commitment to decarbonise the global economy over the course of this century, says Greenpeace. Since then the Paris Agreement has been adopted and now signed by more than 170 nations.

Global brands, including McDonald’s, Tesco, Iglo, Young’s Seafood, Icelandic Seachill, alongside the Norwegian Fishing Vessel Owners Association, Fiskebåt, Russian fishing giant, Karat and Europe’s largest processor of frozen fish, Espersen, have said “no” to the further expansion of cod fishing into the previously-frozen Northern Barents Sea — an area twice the size of France, on May 25.

Activists on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza chased a controversial vessel at the heart of Thai Union’s supply chain from its moorings on 25 May, in the latest in a series of global protests against the tuna giant’s destructive fishing practices.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on a bill that would overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), on 24 May. The bill is headed to the Senate where it is set to be adopted by unanimous consent. President Obama has already said that he will sign the bill into law.

The City of Fort Dodge, Iowa, has agreed to an administrative settlement of alleged violations of federal Risk Management Program regulations at the John T. Pray Water Treatment Plant. Through the settlement, the city will pay a $20,000 penalty to the United States, and through a supplemental environmental project it will spend at least $200,000 to build a new road to provide emergency vehicles better access to the facility.

Poor air quality, due to ground-level ozone, is expected for southern Connecticut, southern Rhode Island, and southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod and the Islands, on Wednesday, May 25. Unhealthy air quality is expected to continue into Thursday.